


Surprise field trips to your home are never a good idea

by BookWorm_22



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Flash Thompson Bullies Peter Parker, Peter Parker is a Mess, Peter Parker's Field Trip to Stark Industries, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-26
Updated: 2019-11-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:01:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,955
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21575677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BookWorm_22/pseuds/BookWorm_22
Summary: Peter Parker does not have good luck when it comes to field trips (the spider bite being a prime example). So, when Mr Harrington announces a surprise field trip for the Academic Decathlon team, Peter doesn't have high hopes. Those hopes fall dramatically when he finds out where the trip is to - Stark Tower, the home of Stark Industries - and also the place Peter now calls home. What could possibly go wrong?
Relationships: Michelle Jones & Peter Parker, Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Academic Decathlon Team (Spider-Man: Homecoming), Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 14
Kudos: 1284
Collections: Peter Parker Stories, Peter Parker’s Field Trips, Purrsonal Picks, ellie marvel fics - read





	Surprise field trips to your home are never a good idea

**Author's Note:**

> This is set in May 2017 so Peter & co are finishing sophomore year. Spider-man: Homecoming took place about 6 months before this and Captain America: Civil War about 2 months before that.  
> In this universe, Tony never sold Stark Tower but instead converts the old Avengers floors to flats for him, Pepper, Happy and Rhodey. Stark Industries is run from the lower floors. Around Christmas, Tony comes to an arrangement with May Parker where her and Peter move in to keep them safe. Tony also moves Laura Barton and her kids in to keep them safe from any who want to harm them.
> 
> I am from England so I apologise for any English terms instead of American ones. I am also a historian and not a scientist so I made things up.

“Now, before you leave, I have an announcement for you.” Mr Harrington stopped the members of the Academic Decathlon team before they were able to run out of the door, “Because of our win earlier in the year, we have been given the opportunity to go on a very special field trip. I won’t tell you where because I want it to be a surprise.” 

The members of the AcaDec Team looked at each other with delight. A field trip just for them to a secret location was very exciting.

“You and your guardians need to sign these documents and hand them to me by Wednesday afternoon. The field trip will be next Friday. You will need to meet here at 9am and we will be leaving at 9:15. If you are late you will not be coming on the trip. It should finish at 5pm and you will have to make your own way back. Now, off you go and enjoy the rest of the day.”

Glancing at the clock, Peter Parker swore under his breath. Rhodey was meant to have picked him up 5 minutes ago.

“You okay Pete?” Peter’s best friend (and guy in the chair) Edward ‘Ned’ Leeds asked.

“Yeah. I’m running late meeting Rhodey. He said that the next time I was more than 10 minutes late then he was leaving me to get home myself.”

“You’d better get going then hadn’t you?” Michelle ‘MJ’ Jones remarked as she walked past the two boys, her head buried in a business book.

“Yeah. See you guys tomorrow.”

Waving bye, Peter ran through the empty corridors of Midtown High School of Science and Technology. Skidding to a halt, he jumped into an idling car, smiling sheepishly at the driver’s, Colonel James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes, displeased face.

“I was only 7 minutes late” Peter protested.

“You’re as bad as Tony with timekeeping” Rhodey sighed, pulling away and almost immediately stopping for traffic, “how was your day?”

“Great. I aced my biology test and it was burgers for lunch which was cool. And cause we, you know the AcaDec Team, won the championship we’ve been given a special, secret field trip next Friday. I just have to get Aunt May to sign the permission form and hand it in by Wednesday and I can go” Peter rambled excitedly.

Rhodey just chuckled at the hyperness of the kid who had moved on from the field trip to what him and Tony were working on. Luckily, Rhodey’s degree from MIT allowed him to keep up with the young genius’ ramblings, after all, he’d had many years of practice with rambling geniuses. Although, Rhodey made a mental note to tell May Parker about the field trip to make sure Peter’s note was signed.

\-----

The two weeks between the announcement of the field trip and the day of the field trip passed quickly for all the AcaDec Team. Peter had managed to remember to hand his permission slip in on time (mainly because Rhodey told Aunt May who handed it to Pepper who had then handed it to Rhodey to give it to MJ who had given it to Mr Harrington, much to his amusement as Mr Harrington was well aware of Peter’s ability to forget important pieces of paper) and had also managed to avoid too many conflicts with Eugene ‘Flash’ Thompson. However, he was running slightly late to the meeting point and the threat from Mr Harrington about being late and being left behind was ringing in his ears. Looking around him, Peter noticed no one was paying any attention to him so he decided to add a bit more speed to his running. At 9:14, Peter skidded to a halt in front of Mr Harrington and the rest of the AcaDec Team. Mr Harrington just looked at his watch, sighed and shook his head.

“Cutting it close Peter” Mr Harrington stated.

“I wasn’t late!” Peter exclaimed, smiling sheepishly.

“Well, since we are all here now, let’s head off. We’ll walk to 67 Avenue Station and get off the Metro at Lexington Avenue – 53rd Street and when we get there then I’ll tell you where we are going.”

Mr Harrington started towards 67 Avenue Station with most of the AcaDec Team scurrying quickly behind him. However, Peter was frozen on the spot. 

“Come on Loser. You were already almost late, don’t want to get lost as well” MJ stated over her shoulder.

“Peter, you feeling good? You’ve gone pale?” Ned asked with concern.

“I- I just get a bad feeling about this trip.”

“Your spidey-senses are going?” Ned asked with both excitement and concern.

“Not my spidey-senses but a normal bad feeling. We’re a STEM school on a secret field trip to an area I know very well. Lexington Avenue – 53rd Street is where I get on from home.”

“You think that we’re going to Stark Tower?” Ned asked, squealing.

“I hope not. Cause if Tony or Rhodey find out they’ll just humiliate me.”

MJ said nothing but pulled her sketchbook out with a terrifying grin which made Peter and Ned gulp with fear.

A little while later the group emerged from Lexington Avenue – 53rd Street Station and Mr Harrington pulled them aside.

“Now, I’m sure some of you have perhaps an idea where this field trip will be” Mr Harrington’s eyes roved over the 8 teens, settling on Peter’s ashen face and MJ’s terrifying grin. He was well aware of Peter’s living situation and his troubles with certain student’s disbelief concerning Peter’s internship with Tony Stark. “We have been given the honour of a tour of Stark Industries, including some of the labs. You are representing Midtown High and I expect you all to be on best behaviour. Now, come. Our tour is scheduled to start at 10.”

Peter’s face went even whiter than it already was. His secret field trip was to his own home. 

“Ready to have your lies exposed Parker?” Flash Thompson sneered from in front of him.

“What do you mean Flash?”

“Your little internship lie. That’s why you’re so scared isn’t it, that we’ll find out about your lie” Flash laughed triumphantly.

“Its not a lie” Peter shot back, his hands squeezed into fists.

“Sure. I can’t wait for this.”

With that, Flash abandoned Peter, Ned and MJ.

A very resigned Peter stood with his gaping team mates and teacher in the lobby of Stark Tower. Everyone was staring at the architecture in awe, all bar Peter who was fervently praying for the earth to open up and swallow him whole before anything happened.

“Ah, you must be Midtown High’s Academic Decathlon team” a cheerful female voice came from behind where the group was standing. Peter internally groaned; it was Megan Harris, one of the actual SI interns.

“Yes, yes we are” Mr Harrington confirmed.

“Good. Right then, my name is Megan Harris. I’m a 2nd level intern working in the bio labs and I get to be your tour guide today. So, before we actually begin we need to get you checked in and your passes given out. You must wear your passes at all times and, if asked, must produce them for inspection. Mr Hogan, our Director of Security, is pretty anal over that.”

Megan turned and led the group over to the visitor pass desk. The security officer behind the desk today was Rob, an ex-Shield agent who regularly worked security for the classified R&D (and the bio) labs. What was he doing as a Passes Security Officer? Seeing Peter, Rob shot him a shit-eating grin which made Peter pale even more. They knew he was going be coming here. Peter only hoped he would survive this field trip.

“Hey Rob. What you doing down here? Got bored of us interns?” Megan asked, leaning against the desk.

“Nah, doing a favour for the DoS.” Rob tilted his head in Peter’s direction which made Megan giggle and smile.

“Well, at least you don’t have to put up with any explosions today. Anyway, this is the group from Midtown High School of Science and Technology so if we can get their passes I’ll leave you alone to enjoy the rest of your really interesting shift.”

Rob grunted in return but started processing the rest of Peter’s team and teacher. While he was getting them to put their bags and personal items through the x-ray machine, taking ID photos for their passes and getting them to walk through the security arch (Flash setting it off as he had keys in his pocket which started a mini rant from Rob about if Flash had listened to his very comprehensive security briefing (‘all your bags and anything metal or electronic on your person, including but not limited to: phones, keys, coins, wallets, headphones, chargers, passports, pens, sweets with wrappers on, glasses, knives or any other sharp objects.’)), Megan sidled up to Peter with an innocent look on her face.

“Fancy seeing you here Pete.”

“How many know?” Peter groaned.

“Oh, everyone” Megan had the biggest grin on her face, “do you know how hard it is to keep this a secret from you?”

“How does everyone know?” Peter moaned, hating his life at the moment.

“You know how all trips have to be granted clearance by Maria Hill’s team? Yeah? Well, one of them saw your name on the list, passed it up to Deputy Director Hill who passed it to the DoS who passed it to the CEO. And obviously Toby, you know Toby Gartley, Rob’s best friend, well, it was him who’d spotted it in the first place so Rob got told who then told Felicity, they’ve finally gotten together you know, and it sort of got around cause of that.”

Peter blinked, the gossip system in Stark Tower was scary.

“Oh look, everyone’s finished. C’mon Pete” Megan grabbed Peter’s arm and pulled him around the outside of the security zone and towards the entrance pods.

“Hey, why doesn’t Pen- I mean Parker have to go through security?” Flash piped up, causing the others to look at Peter who was still being dragged along by Megan.

“Cause he works here” Megan said as if she was talking to an idiot.

Flash scoffed in disbelief, “how much did Parker pay you to say that?”

Megan went to reply but Peter shook his head. It wasn’t worth getting into this argument with Flash. Megan shot him a heated look but acquiesced to Peter’s silent demands.

“Right, now we’ve all got passes, you gotta place your pass against the scanner. It’ll read your pass and, if you’re allowed through to that area, it’ll open the pod doors for you to walk through. I’ll bring up the rear to make sure we all go through and don’t get lost so, Pete, why don’t you show them how it’s done.”

Pete flushed red, glared at Megan but rummaged in his bag and pulled out his pass. Touching it to the scanner, the glass screen next to the scanner lit up and the basic pass information was displayed:  
Parker, Peter  
R&D – Personal Intern to Head  
SP08102001DY  
Resident

Peter darted through the doors and pretended the group was not gaping at his information.

“As you can see, every time you go through a door like this, your basic pass information will be displayed and SIMONE, the AI for Stark Industries, will process the information, match it to the person using the badge and allow or deny access. SIMONE stands for Stark Industries Mega OmNipotent Engine. We’ve only had her for the last month but she’s really helped everyone at Stark Industries. Passes show your name, your official position, personal ID and access level. Now, your turn.”

Ned was the next one through (Leeds, Edward; Tour Group; T1986RE; Level 1), quickly followed by MJ (Jones, Michelle; Tour Group; T1986RD; Level 1). Just as Cindy Moon was about to go through, Flash pushed past her (Thompson, Eugene; Tour Group; T1986RH; Level 1) and rounded on Peter on the other side.

“How did you manage to get that to show up? So embarrassed to be caught lying that you faked a pass and hacked into Stark Industries.”

“Are you really that much of an idiot?” MJ cut Peter off before he could reply, “You’re accusing Peter of being able to fake a Stark Industries pass to a good enough level to fool a Tony Stark AI, hack said AI and pay various employees to pretend to know him?”

Flash didn’t have a come-back for that and so opened and closed him mouth like a fish for a few seconds before standing away from the trio. Peter and Ned exchanged hi-fives behind MJ’s back. 

While Flash was confronting them, the others had gone through the pod doors. Cindy (Moon, Cindy; Tour Group; T1986RF; Level 1), Sally Avril (Avril, Sally; Tour Group; T1986RA; Level 1), Abe Brown (Brown, Abraham; Tour Group; T1986RB; Level 1), Charles Murphy (Murphy, Charles; Tour Group; T1986RG; Level 1), Mr Harrington (Harrington, Roger; Tour Group; T1986RC; Level 1) and Megan (Harris, Megan; R&D – 2nd Level Biology Intern; RD05121995BIO; Level 4) were waiting for the confrontation to finish, Megan with a frown on her face. Peter was the favourite of all the interns; he was so polite, fun and just an all-round good guy. They all knew that he had problems with some students at school but none of them knew how bad it was. Just wait until Megan told them.

“Follow me guys. We’ll first go to the cloakroom where you’ll drop all your belongings. Because you’re only Level 1’s you can’t take anything with you which includes electronics. If you’re found to have electronics later on you will be escorted out, any images or recordings deleted and banned from Stark Tower for a variable length of time.”

With a lot of grumbling, especially from Flash who didn’t want to give his phone up, they all complied with Megan’s instructions. Only Mr Harrington was allowed to keep the school’s mobile phone just in case something happened and he needed to use it. Peter, of course, kept his phone and somehow MJ kept her notebook and pencil.

“C’mon. Now we’ve got the boring admin stuff out of the way we can actually start this tour. So, we’re going to head up to the biology interns labs on the 61st floor, where I work, first. We’ll spend about 90 minutes in there before going to the 50th floor for lunch which’ll be an hour. After that to one of the R&D labs, I think we’ll do 78 cause they have some fun stuff, for another 90 mins, down to the medical research labs on 67 for about an hour. Then it’s the best part of the tour (and the job), the testing floors. Depending on what they’re testing it’ll be one of the floors between the 56th and 60th. That’ll be for about an hour and then there’ll be a short panel for 30 mins on 32 so you can ask any questions you have. We’ll finish at 5 so you can all go home and I can get back upstairs in time for Fun Hour.” 

Everyone looked slightly stunned at the barrage of information that came out of Megan’s mouth. Peter meanwhile just banged his hand into his head.

“Forgot it was Fun Hour tonight didn’t you?” Megan cackled.

“Yep” Peter groaned.

“Don’t worry, it’s not as if it was your turn to run it or anything.”

“Oh shit.”

“Peter, language!” Mr Harrington admonished, looking slightly bemused at the conversation happening between their guide and Peter.

“Sorry Mr Harrington. Do you think I’ll have enough time in Bio and R&D to get something done?” Peter looked down contrite before turning and giving Megan puppy-eyes.

“Probably. Depends on what you do.”

Peter’s eyes glazed over as he frantically thought about what he could do for Fun Hour later that day. Megan started to lead the group towards the lifts, shouting over her shoulder for someone to guide Peter cause he wouldn’t be able to function like a human being while his mind was inventing something. Ned promptly did this, eying MJ with concern as she grinned and drew ‘Peter doing last-minute inventing’.

“So” Megan started as the lift doors opened on the 61st floor and revealed a single, huge room full of tables covered with all kinds of papers, biological life, computers and hologram screens. At the back were small isolation rooms for biological experimenting. Dotted around the tables were about 25 frantic and very stressed looking interns, “welcome to 61, the 2nd and 3rd Level Biology Intern’s lab. As you can see, it’s a very collaborative lab, unlike some of the others we’ll visit today. So, here we research anything biological, as the name suggests. We all work on our own projects, usually one or two at a time but we also have multiple collaborative projects. At the end of the year we have to present the ColPro’s to Mr Stark, the Head of the Intern Programme, and the heads of each of the R&D departments. The best ColPro across the board is given clearance to continue to development and we get to work on it with the actual staff. Last year the 3rd Level Medical Interns won with the potential use of nanites for connecting prosthetics to the spinal cord. Naturally, we want to win this year as Bio hasn’t won for, I think its been 3 or 4 years now.”

“5 years Meg. Med won last year, Chem the year before, Med the year before that and Tech before that, and before them it was us. We’re going to win this year. Unlike most other Departments we don’t have separate 2nd and 3rd Level projects but combined ones. Oh yeah, I’m Sam, 3rd Level Bio.” Sam, one of the other interns who was completely hyper (which told Peter she probably hadn’t slept for about 2 days), cut in.

“Megan, I’m going to grab a spot and work on Fun Hour” Peter said, heading to his customary spot next to Sam’s main work area.

“Didn’t see you there Petey. You doing Fun Hour tonight then?” Sam squealed, catching Peter in a side hug.

“Yeah. Forgot about it though so I’ll come up with something now.”

Detaching himself from Sam’s hug, Peter plonked himself down next to her, cleared some of the papers (and the suspicious looking slime) off the table and pulled up a holographic screen.

“While Pete pulls himself out of the hole he’s found himself in, we’ve got until 12 to look round this floor. The isolation rooms at the back are out of bounds but feel free to wander around and talk to the other interns. Please don’t touch anything as some of this stuff is private and the biological items on the tables are mainly safe but there’s still risk. Just last week we managed to make biological slime that did not come off anything it touched and had a bleeding mind of its own. We had to evacuate the floor for five days, only got back in yesterday. Its why we all look stressed as we’re behind on our personal deadlines cause of that.” Megan explained, making a shooing motion towards the seven students and their teacher, before darting off to her own workstation.

Everyone split up, each working around the floor at their own pace, sometimes stopping and talking with one of the interns. Mr Harrington made a beeline towards Peter’s temporary workstation.

“Peter, I know that this is where you work, but I must insist that you participate in the field trip” Mr Harrington chided Peter who was deep in the holographic screen in front of him.

“Huh, sorry Mr Harrington, did you say something?” Peter looked up.

“Yes Peter. I need you to attempt to participate in this field trip, even though you are busy in your work.”

“But Mr Harrington, I have to make something for Fun Hour tonight otherwise all the interns and scientists will hate me forever. It’s not as if the others can’t come and talk to me. Anyway, I know most of the interns here and what they do so it’s not as if I need to pay that much attention to this.”

“Peter, I know all this, but you must still try.”

“Hey Pete!” Evan, another of the 2nd Level Bio Interns, came up behind Peter and Mr Harrington, throwing his arms around Peter’s shoulders, “Help me!”

“Sorry Mr Harrington” Peter smiled sheepishly at Mr Harrington before slipping off his stool and heading towards Evan’s bench where Abe, Charles and Cindy were gathered.

“Sorry guys, had to grab the Biochemist in the room” Evan announced to them, pulling Peter along, “Now, Pete, explain this.”

Peter stared at the holographic screen that was shoved under his nose.

“Well” Peter sighed and started explaining the nice and complex theory presented to him.

On the other side of the lab, Flash was quizzing the other interns about them knowing Peter. He was getting increasingly annoyed at how all of the interns started gushing about Penis Parker and how amazing he was. Flash still didn’t believe them and was wondering how much money Parker had spent bribing them (ignoring the fact that Peter was attending Midtown due to a STEM scholarship and didn’t have money, unlike him). Seeing that Peter was across the room, Flash made a beeline towards Peter’s abandoned desk.

Although the holographic screen that Peter had been working on had been locked by SIMONE as soon as Peter had moved away, Flash started to sift through the assorted papers and biological matter (read: hazards) that surrounded Peter’s temporary desk. While doing this, Flash accidentally squashed some of the slime that Peter had moved out of the way, between the desk and some suspicious biological matter. Almost instantly, the slime moved. Flash screamed.

“What’s happened?” Meg, Sam and most of the other interns who were not involved in a critical stage of research rushed over. “Oh shit. Please tell me you did not touch the slime?”

“I-I-I touched the slime” Flash stuttered.

“What part of DO NOT TOUCH did you not understand?” Meg near screamed, attempting to not have a mental breakdown.

“That slime is the remnants of the slime that caused the lab shut down last week” Peter said, attempting to both console Meg and deal with the slime that was now expanding and moving independently, “We need to diffuse this right now.”

“You are aware this isn’t a bomb?” MJ asked, happily seated on a stool, nonchalantly drawing Flash’s panicked face.

“It is a bomb. It will destroy this lab and most of our work again.”

At Peter’s words, the interns hurriedly ran around the lab grabbing as many files as they could to protect their precious work.

“Ned, pass me that test tube next to you. Cindy, the plant behind you” Peter ordered, carefully prodding the expanding slime with a metal bar that had appeared out of nowhere. The slime evidently didn’t like that as suddenly most of the bar was gone.

“What you doing?” Ned asked, throwing Peter the test tube while Cindy carefully passed the plant to Sally who was standing closest to Peter. 

“Attempting to appease the slime.”

“Appease the slime?” Mr Harrington echoed, wondering about the sanity of his student.

“Yeah, its how we got it down last time. We appeased it.”

“We appeased it? Nah, that was you Pete. Only person crazy enough to come in here last time was you. And the only person crazy enough to appease the slime is you!” Sam called, the other interns all nodding in agreement.

“Ok, maybe I appeased it. But it worked didn’t it?” Peter sounded injured when he said that, “Thanks Sally. Right, no-one panic. I should be fine.”

With that, Peter dived towards the slime, seeming to stick to it for a second before disappearing from sight.

“WHAT?!!!” Ned screamed.

“Peter just- he just- what?!” Charles attempted to talk.

“Pretty sure he did that last time and he was fine” Meg said from behind a large stack of precariously balanced papers.

“We should tell someone…” Evan trailed off.

“Probably, yeah. SIMONE, can you inform someone what’s happened?” Meg tilted her head towards the ceiling.

“I have already informed Mr Stark” a voice, SIMONE, replied, “He is on his way down.”

As SIMONE said this, the doors to the lab, which had been sealed off and flashing red due to the biohazard, slid open and the entire group turned to look at the figure nearly running towards them dressed in a ratty, old t-shirt and stained jeans.

“What happened? Where’s Peter?”

“One of the tour group touched the slime, Mr Stark. Peter’s currently inside it trying to ‘diffuse it’” Meg replied.

“What do you mean ‘Peter’s inside it’?”

“Peter ran towards the slime with a test tube and a plant. That was about 2 minutes ago” MJ replied for them, still sitting on the stool and sketching the various panicked faces of the interns and the group.

“A test tube and a plant? Please tell me you’re joking?” Tony Stark moaned, looking towards the slime which had now taken over 2 desks, the floor between them and was pulsing rather violently.

“MJ never jokes” Ned, Cindy, Charles, Abe, Sally and Mr Harrington chorused.

“Good to know” Tony stated, blinking at them, “back to the actual problem of my intern being inside some independent-minded slime.”

“Erm… Mr Stark…” Meg said slowly.

“Yeah.”

“It’s sort of… not… the first time Pete’s done this. He did this the first time.”

“HE WHAT?!!!”

“He did this before?” Meg offered up quietly.

“HE DID THIS BEFORE AND I’M ONLY JUST FINDING OUT!!!” Tony near screamed.

“Errr… yeah.”

“That kid gives me grey hairs” Tony muttered, rubbing his hand through his hair, “Has anyone got any ideas on what to do because I’m coming up empty.”

Everyone turned to look blankly at each other and shook their heads.

“Well, that’s just brilliant isn’t it?” the classic Stark sarcasm was running well.

Before anyone could respond to Tony’s comment, the slime pulsated violently and let out a small burp. Suddenly, it shrunk back into the inert lump it was before Flash touched it. And laying on the floor, covered in slime, was Peter.

“Hey guys, situations completely under control” Peter waved a hand in the air, still laying spread-eagle and face down, “Ergh, I need to change.”

“That you do kid” Tony piped up.

“Mr- Mr Stark? What are you doing here?” Peter’s head shot up.

“SIMONE told me that there was an incident in the lab where you were. Of course I came down here. And I came down here to find you had jumped into a lump of slime that had a mind of its own. And, THAT THIS WASN’T THE FIRST TIME!!”

“You didn’t need to Mr Stark. I had it under control.”

“You think that being inside that was it under control? What possessed you to do that? And while we’re on the topic, why is the slime still here in the first place? Shouldn’t it have been destroyed?” Tony ranted.

“It was under control. I knew what I was doing. And you can’t destroy Bob! He’s good at heart” Peter pleaded.

“Bob? You named that thing?” Tony asked incredulously.

“Of course he did. Its Peter” MJ butted in.

“What do you mean by that?” Peter looked injured in MJ’s direction.

“What I said Loser.”

“Back to the point at hand. Peter go get changed, you can catch up with your tour group later on. Interns, clear everything up and, for my sanity, remove that slime. Who’s the tour guide?” Tony ordered, arms crossed and staring down at Peter in disapproval.

“I am Mr Stark” Meg raised her hand slowly.

“Good, take them onto their next bit, Pete’ll catch you up at some point.”

Meg nodded and shepherded the stunned tour group towards the lifts, giving a commiserating look towards Peter who was standing there, covered in slime, looking very sheepish as Tony continued to stare down at him.

\-----

As soon as the lift doors slid closed behind Mr Harrington, they all started talking over each other. 

“Can you believe that happened?”

“Mr Stark actually came cause Peter was in trouble!”

“OMG, OMG, I just met TONY STARK!!! Can you believe it?”

“This is the best field trip ever.”

“Can’t say Peter was lying can you Flash?” 

MJ’s comment made the others fall silent, looking between MJ and Flash in anticipation of the verbal slap down she was going to give him. Covertly, Meg pulled her phone out and started recording – she knew the others would be happy to watch the guy that bullied Peter being humiliated.

“I mean, Tony Stark came down to the lab simply because he was worried about Peter” MJ continued.

“Penis probably bribed him to do that” was Flash’s only comeback.

“Eugene, detention with myself Monday afterschool” Mr Harrington said.

“That’s not fair? I haven’t done anything. Everything in there was Penis’ fault” Flash whined.

“Weren’t you the one who touched the slime even after Megan specifically told us not to touch anything?” MJ asked, leaning against the wall.

“Thank you for that reminder Michelle. Detention for the week Eugene; for disregarding instructions made for your own safety and calling a classmate names. I will also be informing Principal Morita of your behaviour and it will be up to him if further action is taken.”

“I’ll tell my father to remove his funding from the lab extension” Flash attempted some bravado, but everyone could see that it was faked.

“Pretty sure we could just tell Peter and get Mr Stark to fund it” MJ said nonchalantly.

“And it’d be so much better cause Mr Stark has so much more money than you AND he’s an actual scientist, so he’d know what we want” Ned added.

“Can I just point out that we’re at the café floor?” Meg interrupted the ongoing slaughtering of Flash.

“Right. My apologies Miss Harris” said Mr Harrington, ushering the students out of the lift.

“It’s fine, just pretty sure someone else will want the lift soon. Right, we’ve got an amazing café. Everyone who works here gets a free lunch and at $10 snack allowance for scientists, others have $5. If we want to, we also have discounted dinner but most of us scientists forget to eat so we never really use it all. And, the best thing, unlimited coffee. There’s also other drinks available – like Red Bull – but basically everyone has coffee. Even if you didn’t like coffee when you start, by the end of the first month you’re drinking it by the gallon” Meg explained, laughing slightly self-deprecating about the coffee, “and as you’re an official school group you get to eat here for free as well. You’re restricted to either a side and a main, or a main and a dessert. All you need to do is grab your food and scan your card at the till. Then find somewhere to sit. Just be back here in 50 mins.”

Meg made shooing motions towards the teens and Mr Harrington before darting off to grab some food for herself and the other interns and escaping back to the 61st floor where she assisted the interns in putting their lab back together.

\-----

Peter never actually returned to the field trip. When he’d gotten up to his and May’s floor, he’d jumped into the shower and spent the next 20 minutes trying to get the slime out of his hair (that thing was a complete and utter ball ache to get out) before getting changed into one of his casual outfits – after all, it was a field trip to his home/workplace so he was allowed to be super-casual. By the time he’d emerged from his bedroom into the living room (with its panoramic views of New York from the 85th floor and Spider-man escape hatch) Mr Stark had obviously told Miss Pepper what had happened.

“Hi Miss Pepper” Peter said, waving nervously and skirting the wall towards the sofa.

“Peter. I’ve just heard a very fascinating story from Tony” Pepper replied, her arms folded and foot tapping.

“You-you have?” Peter stammered.

“Yes. Something involving some slime that caused a lab shut down last week and wasn’t removed, a plant, a test tube with an unknown substance and you diving inside it.”

“Haha” Peter laughed nervously, “that does sound fascinating.”

“Considering no one was hurt and neither Tony nor I are your legal guardians I’m not going to do anything apart from ban you from the labs for the next week and during that week you are going to be assisting me instead” Pepper’s face split into an evil grin. 

Tony edged away from her, shaking his head.

“That’s actually evil Pep” Tony said.

“I know. But this way Peter will learn to not do something stupid like this.”

“It wasn’t stupid” Peter broke in, ignoring Tony’s manic shaking head.

“And what would you call it then Peter?” Pepper asked in a dangerous voice.

Peter obviously realised this was the wrong thing to say and quickly attempted to backtrack.

“I’m sorry Mr Stark, Miss Pepper, I won’t do anything like that again. But can I at least go to the lab today cause I have to come up with something for Fun Hour tonight” Peter tried pleadingly.

“You will not be returning to the labs at all today and you will send a lovely apologetic email to all involved in Fun Hour. And you will phone your teacher and inform him, because you have been banned from the labs for the week, you will not be finishing the tour.”

“Yes Miss Pepper” Peter’s head hung low, “FRIDAY, can you ask SIMONE to tell everyone I’m sorry I can’t do Fun Hour and tell Mr Harrington I’ve been grounded.”

“Of course Peter” FRIDAY replied, “SIMONE is informing those involved now.”

“Thanks FRI” Peter chirped.

“Now that’s done, you are on Nate-sitting duties for the rest of the day” Pepper informed Peter, pointing at the lift that would take him one floor to the Barton’s floor.

“Yes Miss Pepper.”

Peter trudged off to do his punishment.

“And I’ve already left a voicemail for Aunt May to find when she comes off shift” Tony casually told Peter just before he got to the lift, a shit-eating grin on his face.

“Shit. I’m dead aren’t I?” Peter groaned.

“Yes you are kid. Have fun!”

Waving cheerily at Peter’s devastated face as the lift doors closed, Tony turned to Pepper.

“Pete never has a normal field trip does he?”

“No. He has a knack not unlike yours to get into trouble.”

\-----

Mr Harrington and the rest of the AcaDec team were enjoying their free lunch (minus perhaps Flash who was still sulking about his humiliation earlier) and generally having a chat about how cool this field trip was when Meg came running up to them, puffing slightly.

“Sorry guys but it’s time for us to carry on with our tour.”

“Of course. C’mon everyone” Mr Harrington stood up, ushering the students towards the lift. 

“We’re heading to 78 now, which is one of the R&D labs with fun stuff in it. Hopefully not as fun as earlier but – this is Stark Industries and anything can happen. And please, this time, NO TOUCHING ANYTHING” Meg addressed this last bit to Flash who just stared at her in more fake bravado.

“Excuse me Miss Harris” a female voice came from the ceiling making all but Meg jump.

“Oh, that’s SIMONE. I told you about her earlier.”

“I have a message for Mr Roger Harrington from Sir.”

“Go on SIMONE.”

“Sir has been told by the Big Boss that he is unable to continue the field trip at this time.”

“Peter’s been grounded hasn’t he?” MJ asked.

“Yes Miss Jones.”

“Thank you, err… SIMONE” Mr Harrington said, feeling slightly awkward at replying to a disembodied voice.

“All part of my programming Mr Roger Harrington.”

“Right, we’re here” Meg announced as the lift doors opened.

\-----

Unsurprisingly, the rest of the field trip for Mr Harrington and the remaining (ungrounded) AcaDec team members was nowhere near as entertaining as the first bit. The R&D labs were not open plan like the 2nd and 3rd Level Intern Bio Lab, but divided into smaller, individual labs. Mr Harrington kept a very close eye on Flash for the rest of the day, hovering over his shoulder every time he even breathed in the direction of any item. Meg walked them around some of the different labs and let the scientists working in them talk all about their latest project. After R&D, they headed down to 67 and the 3rd Level Medical Research Intern Lab where they all were awed by the hypothetical technological advances the interns were sure would revolutionise the medical business. Meg told them that it was likely that none of them had slept for at least a day and joked about the real life of SI interns. Then, it was down to 60 where some of the engineers were testing clean energy engines for their prototype electric, driverless cars. That ended with a bit of fire after one of the parts backfired and set the engine on fire. Unfortunately for the group, the engineers jumped on it immediately and all they saw was a single flame before it was extinguished. Finally, it was all the way down to 32 where they sat listening to a sales pitch from the Head of the Intern Scheme about how great the intern scheme was and why they should all consider applying when they got to college. It was just before 5 when they were allowed to leave, all (bar Flash) were on a high from the day (and laughing at Peter’s misfortune).

\-----

Monday morning came around quickly for all the AcaDec team. Ned and MJ hadn’t heard from Peter since a hurried text on Friday afternoon bemoaning him being grounded by Tony and Pepper. Peter turned up for first class (which was Mr Harrington’s class with all the members of the AcaDec team in) only 2 minutes before the bell went, looking very dejected.

'How bad?' Ned slid the note across the desk to Peter.

'Mr Stark and Miss Pepper banned me from the labs for a week. I have to help Miss Pepper all week instead and its horrible. May’s grounded me for two weeks, taken my phone away from me unless I’m at school for a week and grounded me from Spidey for three weeks.'

'You got grounded by Mr Stark?!!! That’s so cool!!!' Ned nearly squealed through the paper.

“Peter, Ned, I know you’ve got a lot to catch up with after Friday but please do it on your own time, even if Peter probably knows this already. And give me that note” Mr Harrington’s voice cut through Peter’s attempt to write Ned a reply.

“Yes Mr Harrington. Sorry Mr Harrington” Peter and Ned chorused, faces going red as Peter stood up and handed Mr Harrington the note who read it and raised an eyebrow at certain parts.

“You two, stay behind after class.”

As Peter was walking past Flash, he sniggered: “Not so smug now Penis.”

“Eugene, another day of detention for you I think.”

Peter just smiled a little as Flash glared at Mr Harrington.

The end of class came too soon for Peter and Ned who packed their bags but waited in their seats. Surprisingly, so did the other AcaDec members (bar Flash who nearly ran out of the class in order to get away from his (now) most hated teacher) who all smiled at Peter.

“I’m not going to question one part of your note Peter” Mr Harrington smiled knowingly as Peter’s face went pure white, “but I will say I am glad that you are alright after Friday’s incident.”

“You didn’t get grounded too much did you Peter?” Sally asked.

“A week from the labs and my phone, I’m helping Miss Pepper instead. And 2 weeks by Aunt May plus I’m on Nate-sitting duties for the next month.”

“Nate-sitting duties?” Abe asked.

“Yeah. Clint Barton, you know, Hawkeye. Well, he has a family and Mr Stark offered them protection against anyone trying to get them to get Hawkeye. So, I have to Nate-sit, otherwise known as looking after Nathaniel. And I also have to look after Cooper and Lila, Nate’s elder siblings.”

“Poor you” MJ commented, not looking up from her book.

“Does this mean when you’re not grounded I can come over?” Ned asked, basically jumping up and down with excitement.

“Us too. Otherwise, who knows who’ll hear about the slime” Cindy added, smiling innocently.

“Have you been taking lessons from MJ? But I totally agree” Charles asked, eying her cautiously.

“I suppose so” Peter sighed, smiling at them all.

“C’mon Losers, we’ll be late for 2nd period” MJ jumped off the desk and left, leaving Peter and the others to scramble after her, all saying bye to Mr Harrington.

Peter smiled, even though he was grounded and he didn’t finish the field trip, it felt nice for others apart from Ned and MJ to know where he lived and who he lived with. Slinging an arm over Ned’s shoulder, Peter followed the others out into the hall. He’d ask Aunt May, Mr Stark and Miss Pepper if the AcaDec team could come over after his grounding when he got home. Peter thought he’d probably hear Ned’s screaming in Queens from the Tower when he found out.


End file.
